Glacially crushed quartz grains in loess as indicators of long‐distance transport from major European ice centers during the Pleistocene

Abstract

Detailed mineralogical analysis of the fine and very fine sand fractions (63–250) in the Dreihausen Loess Sequence shows the presence of numerous glacially crushed grains, including a significant amout of quartz. Previous theories regarding the origin of loesses in central Germany held that all sediments were derived locally, following short‐distance transport from nearby sandstone outcrops. New data presented here show that many quartz and feldspar grains were glacially crushed, weathered, crushed again, transported, and emplaced by aeolian processes at Dreihausen. Crushing features observed are compatible with transport in both continental and alpine glaciers; some clasts show the effects of abrasion by both water and ice transport, while others are partly rounded presumably by fluvial and/or aeolian processes. Stronger palewind systems during the Pleistocene presumably contributed to the transport and emplacement of glacial grains from ice centers in both the Alps and the Baltic areas, and also possibly from the Rhine Basin.